ADOPTION ALERT!

forwarded by Leigh Giusti at leighmcarthurgiusti@gmail.com
Friday, January 11, 2008
China and HIV adoption -help spread the word!!!
Please contact Erin at erin@adoptionadvocates.org if interested in this
situation

Passing on this message from another board:
Hi all, Sorry for the off topic post, but I know lots of people read this list
and I need to get the word out.

I was recently hired by Adoption Advocates International (AAI) to be their HIV
adoption coordinator. We are placing kids from Ethiopia and have our first
referrals from Thailand of HIV+ children as well.

This week AAI staff has been in China, and we are being given the wonderful
opportunity to facilitate the adoption of an HIV+ child from China, and
hopefully start a program where HIV+ children are regularly placed (which would
be new to China). There was a big meeting and basically those who are in charge
of the orphans in China had no idea that HIV+ children could be treated with
medication and be basically healthy. They had no idea that these kids could live
long, full lives. They had no idea that HIV was not spread through casual
contact, etc.

After some education and explanation, and the AAI staff sharing how over 20 HIV+
kids have now been adopted from Ethiopia, the people in charge in China agreed
to "try it". They gave us the referral of one child, a 20 month old little girl.
She is very beautiful and seems to be doing well, although is small for her age.
She is developmentally normal and has not been showing any signs of illness.
From what we know there are no ARV's available for Chinese orphans, so getting
her home quickly will be important.

We would love to get the word out about this little girl so we can try and find
her a home. If we can find a home for her quickly and show the Chinese officials
that there are parents who will adopt these children, it could very well open
the door for many more HIV+ Chinese orphans to be placed in loving homes in the
US instead of dieing in orphanages.

China has been flexible in the past with its guidelines for special needs kids
and we believe that they will be flexible for parents adopting HIV+ kids,
however for the first case we want a family that meets the guidelines (or is
very close) so it isn't a "stretch". The guidelines are:

- parents between the ages of 30-55
- married for two years
- income of at least $10,000 a year per family member and net worth of $80,000
- no more than four (maybe five) children in the home

Please feel free to spread this information around anywhere you see fit,
especially if any of you have connections with the China adoption community.

Also please share my work contact info with anyone interested, which is
erin@adoptionadvocates.org and 307 248 0530

Erin Mom to 11 wonderful kids, including three blessings from Ethiopia HIV
adoption coordinator for Adoption Advocates International
http://fullhousefullhandsfullhearts.blogspot.com

Adoption Advocates International (AAI)
709 South Peabody
Port Angeles, WA 98362
Phone: 360-452-4777
General information: info@adoptionadvocates.org